Today’s Run:  3.50 miles

Everybody needs a reason for doing the things that they do.  Motivation/incentive is what keeps us going.  Whether is be home, work or recreation, positive reinforcement (incentive) is what takes the squeak out of the wheel and we all know that the squeaky wheel gets the grease (I do not like squeaky wheels).

As you all know, we like to run.  We like it more on some days than on others.  Usually, it is a lot of fun to hit the pavement and see how fast we can go. That is where motivation comes to play.

We schedule ourselves for races periodically.

You need to be prepared for a race or face disgracing yourself publicly.  Some of the races we have run are considered “high profile” (Mississippi Blues Marathon/Half-Marathon for one) and there are a lot of people participating in the race as well as volunteers and spectators.  If you are not prepared physically and mentally for the race, you can embarrass yourself.   The fear of embarrassing yourself in front of all those people is very good incentive to get out and run!

There are physical awards.  Some of the larger races have medals for all finisher.  There are T-shirts for participating and goodies in swag bags for all runners.  These are good incentives for running consistently.

If you are a good runner…There are the prizes.  Some races offer prize money for winning.  The elite runners do not have to worry themselves about us competing for any of their trophies or checks.  These runners usually have corporate sponsors who pay their race entry fees, shoes, attire…must be rough.

So, when you are tempted to hit the snooze button, think of the race coming up.  We are running the Coca Cola Classic 10K this weekend in Corinth, Mississippi.  That is 6.2 miles.  Hoping to finish in under 1:20.  Wish us luck!